Denver Salt Works

Salt working

This is the site of a Roman salt works, and rectangular enclosures, house sites, and kilns, are visible as cropmarks on aerial photographs. Part of the site was excavated in the 1960s by the Ministry of Works, and large amounts of Roman pottery, coins and building material has been recovered. Salt working was an important industry on the Fen edge during the Roman period, which relied on peat turbaries to supply fuel.

Roman material has been recovered from a 2.75 kilometer stretch of the Fen Causeway, in agricultural land in the parishes of Denver (TL5700), Downham West (TL5800) and Nordelph (TL5900). Aerial photographs show a number of rectilinear enclosures, the majority of which lie to the north of the causeway.

Pottery ranging from the late-first to the fourth centuries was found. Hypocaust and roof-tiles concentrated around one point, indicate the presence of a substantial Roman building in the area.

A Roman road to Duroliponte (Cambridge) possibly joined up with the Fen Causeway a little to the east, in the area of Downham market.

References for Denver

  • Roadside Settlements in Lowland Roman Britain by Roger Finch Smith (B.A.R. British Series #157, 1987) pp.172/3.

Map References for Denver

NGRef: TF5700 OSMap: LR143

Roman Roads near Denver

Fen Causeway: ENE (20) to Kempstone Fen Causeway: W (26) to Longthorpe (Cambridgeshire) SSW (28) to Dvroliponte (Cambridge, Cambridgeshire)

Sites near Denver Salt Works